Comparison

Refined GitHub vs Hex

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Refined GitHub

Enhance your GitHub experience with this Safari extension. It streamlines the interface and introduces over 200 features, including improved link detection, visible whitespace, and one-click tools for common tasks. Gain deeper insights into code, pull requests, and repository history.

Highlights
  • Linkifies issue/PR references and URLs
  • Makes whitespace characters visible
  • Reduces tab size to 4 spaces
  • One-click merge conflict fixers
  • Reaction avatars for comments
  • View source of Markdown files
  • Build/CI status icon next to repo name
Features
Read full description

Refined GitHub is a Safari extension that simplifies the GitHub.com interface and adds useful features. ■ Highlights - Linkifies issue/PR references and URLs in code. - Makes whitespace characters visible. - Reduces tabs’ size to 4 spaces instead of 8. - Adds one-click merge conflict fixers. - Adds reaction avatars showing who reacted to a comment. - Adds a button to revert all the changes to a file in a PR. - Adds a build/CI status icon next to the repo’s name. - Adds a button to view the source of Markdown files. - Shows PRs that touch the current file. - Highlights the most useful comment in conversations. - Shows the first Git tag a merged PR was included in. - Adds a link to an automatic changelog for each tag/release. - Adds possible related pages and alternatives on 404 pages. - Displays the age of the repository in the sidebar. And so much more! 200+ features. See the developer website for a full list of features. The GITHUB and REFINED GITHUB trademarks are owned by GitHub, Inc. and used under license.

About

Hex

Features
Read full description

Hex is a developer toolkit for iPhone and iPad: 21 small utilities for the jobs that interrupt real work, like decoding a token, pretty-printing a payload, testing a pattern or checking a file hash. Everything runs on your device. ENCODE • Base64: encode text, or decode standard, URL-safe (base64url), line-wrapped (MIME) and unpadded input. Bytes that aren't UTF-8 text are shown as a hex dump. • URL Encode: percent-encode a value so & = ? / # + : @ are escaped, or decode it (+ reads as a space). Malformed escapes are flagged. • HTML Entities: encode ampersands, angle brackets and quotes, or decode every HTML 4 named entity (nbsp, copy, mdash and the rest) plus decimal and hex references. • JWT Decode: header and payload as readable JSON, with claim order kept. • Hash Generator: MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 of any text. FORMAT • JSON Formatter: prettify, minify and validate. Your key order, numbers and escapes stay exactly as written, and top-level values like "text" or 42 are accepted. • XML Formatter: indents and validates. Comments, CDATA, processing instructions and the XML declaration are kept, and the output is re-escaped so it stays valid XML. • SQL Formatter: puts SELECT, FROM, WHERE, JOIN, GROUP BY and ORDER BY clauses on their own lines and uppercases keywords. Strings, quoted names and -- or /* */ comments pass through unchanged. • Markdown Preview: headings, bullet and numbered lists, block quotes, fenced code blocks and rules, with bold, italic, inline code and links. • HTML Preview: renders your HTML offline. Remote images, scripts, styles and frames are blocked, and links don't navigate away. GENERATE • UUID Generator: version 4 UUIDs, 1 to 100 at a time, upper or lower case. • Lorem Ipsum: words, sentences or paragraphs. • Password Generator: 4 to 128 characters from uppercase, lowercase, digits and symbols, with at least one from each set you pick. The strength meter shows entropy in bits. • Color Converter: HEX (3 or 6 digits), RGB and HSL, each editable with sliders. • Checksum: MD5, SHA-1 and SHA-256 of a file from Files, read in chunks so large files work, and a check against an expected hash. TIME • Unix Timestamp: timestamp to date and back. Seconds, milliseconds and microseconds are recognised. • Cron Parser: standard five-field cron with ranges, lists, steps and month or weekday names, a plain-English description and the next five run times. • Timezone Converter: pick a time and the zone it's in, then see it in any of the listed zones. TEXT • Diff Checker: line-by-line comparison that lines up inserted and deleted lines. • Regex Tester: matches highlighted in your text, a numbered match list, and case-insensitive, multiline and dot-matches-newline options. • Text Inspector: characters, words, lines, sentences, paragraphs and UTF-8 bytes, with a character breakdown. WORKFLOW • Clipboard detection: copy JSON, a JWT, Base64, a URL, XML, HTML, a Unix timestamp, a hex color or SQL, and Hex offers the matching tool with your text already in it. iOS may ask permission before Hex reads the clipboard. • Deep links: hex://json, hex://jwt, hex://base64, hex://cron and the other tools open directly from Shortcuts or other apps. • Copy any result, or export it as a file (.json, .xml, .sql, .txt and more) through the share sheet. WHAT HEX DOESN'T DO • No network tools: no HTTP client, no API testing, no DNS lookups. • JWT Decode reads tokens but does not verify signatures. • Cron Parser doesn't support the L, W or # extensions or a seconds field. • The SQL Formatter changes layout only. It doesn't run or validate queries. • No sync and no history beyond your five most recent tools. PRIVACY Nothing leaves your device. Hex makes no network requests, has no analytics, no tracking and no accounts. Text you paste and files you hash stay on your iPhone or iPad. PRICE A one-time purchase. No subscription, no in-app purchases and no ads. Made by SHYGUY LLC.

Screenshots

Refined GitHub2 screens
Hex4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Refined GitHub at Free against Hex's $2.99. Refined GitHub also leads on update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 4 months). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Refined GitHub is free to download; Hex costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Refined GitHub ships an update every 6 weeks, Hex every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Refined GitHub versus Hex: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRefined GitHubHex
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.6 (88 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews72.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings88 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSindre SorhusChad Neal

In-app purchases

None

Refined GitHub

No in-app purchases

None

Hex

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Refined GitHub free?
Refined GitHub is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hex free?
Hex costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Refined GitHub or Hex have ads?
Neither Refined GitHub nor Hex shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Refined GitHub or Hex?
Refined GitHub ships an update every 6 weeks, and Hex every 4 months. Most recently, Refined GitHub was updated on November 11, 2026 and Hex on November 9, 2026.

Other comparisons